Seat, in Particular Aircraft Passenger Seat

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a seat, in particular an aircraft passenger seat ( 1 ), comprising seat components such as a backrest ( 9 ), seat section ( 5 ), seat frame, seat cushion and cover material and seat attachment parts such as a headrest ( 15 ), armrest and footrest. At least one of the seat components is equipped with at least one guide web ( 17 ), along which a seat attachment part ( 15 ) can be displaced and fixed in a friction fit in a predetermined position.

The invention relates to a seat, in particular an aircraft passenger seat, having seat components such as the backrest, seat part, seat frame, seat cushion and upholstery material and with accessory seat parts such as a headrest, armrest and leg rest.

In the interest of improving the comfort offered to the seat occupant, which is of great importance especially for aircraft passenger seats for commercial aviation, because for example on long-distance flights travel times are prolonged, known seats are conventionally equipped with adjustment devices which enable different adjustment positions of the accessory seat parts. The seat occupant is thus able to move the accessory seat parts which constitute seat components which enhance comfort into the desired adjustment positions, which positions afford him the greatest possible comfort according to his requirements.

The adjustment devices of known seats are complicated due to the required positioning mechanism, require large installation space and are expensive to produce.

Therefore the object of the invention is to make available a seat which enables adjustment of the position of accessory seat parts, but which is characterized by a simple design.

As claimed in the invention, this object is achieved by a seat which has the features of claim 1 in its entirety.

In that, as specified in the characterizing part of claim 1, the pertinent seat components have at least one guide web along which an associated accessory seat part can be moved into the desired adjustment positions in which it is locked in position in a friction fit, an especially simple adjustment device is available in which no positioning mechanism at all is necessary. Due to the friction fit present between the accessory seat part and the guide web, the seat occupant is able to move the desired accessory seat part manually against the inhibiting action of the friction fit into the desired adjustment position in which the accessory seat part remains fixed, without the need for further measures or manipulations. It goes without saying that the strength of the active friction fit is selected such that the accessory seat part can be moved on the one hand with moderate expenditure of force, but is relatively securely locked in the desired adjustment position which has been reached for the respective purpose.

In especially advantageous embodiments which are characterized by an especially simple, economically producible design, the guide web is formed by the edge of the upholstery material running in the guide direction.

Especially for the embodiments in which the guide web extends within the outline of a flat area of the upholstery material, in the upholstery material at least one slot which runs in the guide direction can be formed, with one edge forming the guide web.

So that it is a “hidden” slot, the edges of the upholstery material which border the slot can overlap slightly, the edge of the upholstery material lying at the top on the overlap formed in this way forming the guide web.

To form the friction fit between the accessory seat part and the guide web, there is preferably a clamping means which produces a clamping force between the guide web and the movable accessory seat part.

For an especially simple, reliable design of the clamping means, there is a clamping spring which produces the clamping force, with spring legs which clamp the edge of the upholstery forming the guide web between themselves.

When the accessory seat part which can be adjusted in position is for example a headrest and/or lordosis support which can be moved along the backrest, there can be two slots which run parallel to one another in the longitudinal direction of the backrest and which are adjacent to the side edges of the backrest, the upholstery material which runs between the slots on the overlap of the slots forming the upholstery material which lies at the top, with the respective edge forming the guide web for an accessory seat part which is guided to be movable in the longitudinal direction on the two slots, for example a headrest, which after displacement against the lower end of the backrest can optionally also be used as a lordosis support.

The invention will be detailed below using embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a highly schematically simplified front view of a row of aircraft passenger seats with two seats according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a correspondingly simplified side view of the row of seats from FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows an enlarged partial side view of the detail designated as III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a partial section drawn likewise on a larger scale compared to FIGS. 1 and 2 according to the cutting plane designated as IV in FIG. 1 and

FIG. 5 shows a representation which corresponds to FIG. 4 and which illustrates a second embodiment.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a row of aircraft passenger seats with two seats which are located next to one another, which are designated as a whole as 1, and which represent one embodiment of this invention. In the manner conventional for aircraft passenger seats, the seats 1 have a seat part 5 which is mounted upright on the cabin floor 3, armrests 7 and backrests 9. The respective seat cushion of the seat part 5 and the backrest 9 is covered with an upholstery material, of which in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 5 only the upholstery material which covers the backrest cushion 11 is designated as 13.

The upholstery material 13 can be a textile, leather, artificial leather or the like.

In the embodiment to be described here, the movable accessory seat part is a headrest 15 which, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, can be moved along the front of the backrest 9, displacement up to the lower end region of the backrest 9 being possible, so that the headrest 15 for such a lowered adjustment position can also be used as a lordosis support. As is shown especially by FIG. 1, for moving the headrest 15 there are two guide webs 17 which run parallel to one another each in the vicinity of the adjacent side edge of the backrest 9. The details of the guide web 17 which is on the left in the drawings are illustrated in FIG. 4. The opposite guide web 17 on the right is made accordingly in mirror image. As FIG. 4 shows, the guide web 17 is made on a slot of the upholstery material 13 which covers the cushion 11 of the backrest 9, this slot being designed such that the edges 19 and 21 of the upholstery material 13 which border the slot overlap slightly, so that an overlap is formed so that the slot is hidden to the viewer from the front.

The actual guide web for displacement of the headrest 15 is formed by the respective edge 21 on the two sides of that part of the upholstery material 13 which extends over the central region of the backrest from guide web 17 to guide web 17: As is likewise apparent from FIG. 4, on the headrest 15 a clamping spring 23 is attached in the form of a flat spring clip with spring legs 25 and 27 folded over one another and interconnected via a rounded turning part 29. The spring leg 25 is connected as a flat leg to the back of the headrest 15, for example by cementing, foaming-in or the like. The second spring leg 27 is arched, its convexity clamping the edge 21 of the upholstery material 13 against the flat spring leg 25. Thus, a friction fit is formed which enables the headrest 15 to be moved in the longitudinal direction along the guide web 17, the spring legs 25 and 27 sliding on either side of the edge 21 of the upholstery material 13 and the outside of the arched spring leg 27 sliding along the front side of the upholstery material 13 in the region of the edge 19.

As is to be seen from FIG. 3, the upholstery material 13 which extends between the guide webs 17 and which is overlapped on its side edges 21 by the clamping spring 23, is connected to the cushion 11 of the backrest 9 only on the top end region, and which is not shown, on the bottom end region, while, see FIG. 4, the side parts of the upholstery material 13 which extend from the side ends of the backrest 9 as far as the respective edge 19 are connected to the cushion 11. Alternatively, the upholstery material 13 which covers the central region of the backrest 9 could also be connected to its cushion 11, and only the region of the edges 21 would be exposed.

FIG. 5 illustrates a second embodiment which differs from the example as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 simply in that on the edges 21 of the upholstery material 13, piping 31 which is round in cross section and which runs along the respective edge 21 is attached. As is shown in FIG. 5, the piping 31 is surrounded by the turning part 29 of the clamping spring 23. Since the piping 31 is encircled over a large part of its periphery due to the arch of the spring leg 27, the piping 31 constitutes an effective safeguard against theft which does not impede the longitudinal displacement motion of the headrest 15 along the guide web 17, but makes it difficult to lift the headrest 15 out of the guide web 17.

It goes without saying that instead of the illustrated example of a headrest/lordosis support 15 with an adjustable position, accessory seat parts of another type can be movably located on the guide webs of the pertinent seat components and can be fixed in a friction fit. 

1. A seat (1), in particular an aircraft passenger seat, having seat components such as the backrest (9), seat part (5), seat frame, seat cushion (11) and upholstery material (13) and with accessory seat parts such as a headrest (15), armrest and leg rest, characterized in that in at least one of the seat components there is at least one guide web (17) along which one accessory seat part can be moved and fixed in predetermined positions in a friction fit.
 2. The seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein the guide web (17) is formed by the edge (21) of the upholstery material (13) which runs in the guide direction.
 3. The seat as claimed in claim 2, wherein in the upholstery material (13) at least one slot which runs in the guide direction is formed, with one edge (21) forming the guide web (17).
 4. The seat as claimed in claim 3, wherein the edges (19, 21) of the upholstery material (13) which border the slot overlap slightly and wherein the edge (21) of the upholstery material (13) lying at the top on the overlap which has been formed in this way forms the guide web (17).
 5. The seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is a clamping means (23) which produces a clamping force between the guide web (17) and the movable accessory seat part (15) for forming the friction fit.
 6. The seat as claimed in claim 5, wherein there is a clamping spring (23) which produces the clamping force with spring legs (25, 27) which clamp the edge (21) of the upholstery (13) which forms the guide web (17) between themselves.
 7. The seat as claimed in claim 6, wherein a clamping spring (23) with a flat spring leg (25) which is connected to the accessory seat part (15) and which transmits the clamping force to the top of the edge (21) of the upholstery material (13) overlapped by the clamping spring (23), with a turning part (29) which encompasses the edge (21) of the upholstery material (13) and an arched second spring leg (27), with its convexity transmitting the clamping force to the back of the edge (21) of the overlapped upholstery material (13).
 8. The seat as claimed in claim 7, wherein the arched second spring leg (27) on the overlap formed on the slot can be displaced along the top of the overlapped upholstery material (13).
 9. The seat as claimed in claim 7, wherein along the edge (21) of the upholstery material (13) overlapped by the clamping spring (23), there is piping on it which is surrounded at least partially by the turning part (29) of the clamping spring (23), which part is located between the spring legs (25, 27).
 10. The seat as claimed in claim 4, wherein there are two slots, which are adjacent to the side edges of the backrest (9) and which run parallel to one another in the longitudinal direction of the backrest (9) and wherein the upholstery material (13) which runs between the slots on the overlap of the slots forms the upholstery material (13) which lies at the top, with the respective edge (21) forming the guide web (17) for an accessory seat part (15) which is guided to be movable in the longitudinal direction on the two slots.
 11. The seat as claimed in claim 10, wherein the accessory seat part is a movable headrest (15). 